I used to put up our Christmas tree, string the lights, and decorate it all in one day, but I’ve learned I enjoy it more if I do it in stages. When I’m not pushing to get it all done, I feel more freedom to experiment and play if I want to. The funny thing is that I didn’t get super creative with our tree this year, even with that extra time. I just made a couple of very small changes, but I have a lot of ideas for what I want to do next year! I need to make notes for myself so I remember when I put the tree up, almost a year from now!
One addition I made was adding two strands (52 ft, 800 bulbs) of micro-LED/cluster lights to the traditional incandescent lights. THESE are the ones I bought. I was so thankful I strung the lights on each section of the tree last year, so all we had to do was put the sections together and plug them in. (Jeff appreciated that, too, because he hates dealing with Christmas lights.) I wove in a couple of the micro-LED lights to see if I liked them. I have tried LED string lights over the years and have hated them! The orange or blue glow just kills it for me, but I do like the fact that they don’t get hot like incandescent lights. Our Christmas tree basically acts as a heater in this small living room, which can be both good and bad.
So, these are the best LED string lights I’ve tried, but I do still like them mixed with incandescent lights. I might try adding more micro-LED strands next year and take off a few of the incandescent strands to try to get the best of both types of lights while reducing the heat output.
My parents brought Rosa Jo over for a visit while I was working on the tree. If you missed it, you can read about Rosa Jo HERE. (She is my mom’s dog, but we’ll be doing a dog share as we did with Sebastian.) She is so sweet and has been doing so well. She is now at a healthy weight, has a fenced-in yard to run like the wind, is learning to play with toys, and is smart as a whip.
The other change that I made inadvertently was leaving out a section of the tree, so it’s about a foot shorter. Jeff and I were assembling it, plugging in the lights as we went, and when we got to the second-to-the-last section, we realized we had put them together in the wrong order and skipped the second section. We both thought this meant we would need to unplug and remove all of the sections to put it together in the right order, but when we stepped back to assess the tree, we realized it was a happy accident. We purchased this eight-foot tree when we had nine-foot ceilings. Our current room has eight-foot ceilings, so the tree always felt a little squished at the top. Now, it looks perfect, and you would never know a section was missing.
A couple of days later, the guys brought the ornament bins up from the basement for me, and I finished the decorating.
I used the same garlands I did last year – store-bought wool pom-pom garlands, hand-made crochet bauble garlands (you can find the tutorial HERE), and hand-made dried orange slice garlands (you can find that tutorial HERE). One note about the orange slices – these are oranges I dried out a few years ago, and they are still good! I keep them in ziplock bags with silica gel packets I save from other purchases to absorb moisture. I put all the bags (with my salt-dough ornaments and houses) in a plastic bin in the basement, and everything has kept very well.
I topped the tree with a lit star tree topper I purchased a couple of years ago. Now that the tree is shorter, it fits so much better! You can find a similar one HERE.
I also added lots of LED clip-on candles (you can learn how I customized them HERE). I’ve put them on my trees for years, but I was feeling especially fond of them this year, so I brought out more than usual. At night, we’ve just had the candles on (like in the photo above), and it’s so soft and beautiful.
This season does involve a lot of AAA batteries…
Here is how the tree looks with all of the lights on…
With all of the lights and garlands, I kept the ornaments simple – all silver and white. I hung my collection of over 60 Wallace silver-plated sleigh bells and mixed in mercury glass ornaments I’ve bought over the years. I wanted to add in a few more, and I found this set of mercury glass drop ornaments HERE for a reasonable price.
I’m using the tree skirt I made from antique linen toweling almost 10 years ago. You can read how I made it HERE.
While I’ve already made some mental notes about what I want to do with the tree next year, I love this year’s tree. It feels classic, nostalgic, and elegant. I have to straight some of the clip-on candles and bauble garland as the kitties wrestle under the tree, but it’s worth it. (I can see a couple of candles in the picture that are just hanging on!)
As always, our favorite thing about having our tree up is the lights. We have them on all day and enjoy them most in the winter evenings that grow dark so early. I sometimes find myself admiring the way the light reflects off our painted walls.
If you missed my post from last week, you can see how our Christmas trees have looked over the years HERE.
13 Responses
It’s dazzling with all the lights! Just lovely. Merry Christmas!
Really lovely! Thank you for sharing all the names of the exact lights you’ve used, too.
An honest question: I’m guessing you don’t try to keep your kitties out from under your trees or off of inconvenient counters, etc. because they don’t respond well to that or you just put up with it?
We will tell them “no” when we need to, but I view those things as a part of having cats. They don’t scratch up the furniture, always use the litter box, and aren’t destructive, so I can put up with some naughtiness. 🙂
Your comment about the sideways clip lights made me giggle. Yes, I spotted them (after you mentioned them). I left my adult cat home alone with my tree for two days (with lots of food and water and double little boxes). All he touched was ONE fabric star.
Our old (donated from a friend) bit the dust a few years back so I skipped trees for several years. But I missed them. I now have a 4′ tree that suits me fine.
Absolutely beautiful!! It always is…. Have a Blessed holiday.
Your tree is beautiful! I just put our tree up and coaxed a glow out of as many dying lights as I could.
In one of your recent posts you mentioned that you had to cut the lights off your Balsam Hill tree. I also have a Balsam Hill tree–they are quite the investment, but it is the most beautiful tree, live or artificial, that we’ve had in 50 years of Christmas trees. Ours is four years old and I will remove the lights and buy new ones to weave through the branches. Did you do a post about how you did that to your tree. If so, could you direct me to it? If not, would you consider doing one?
I hope your Christmas is full of peace, family and lights. Thank you for another year of wonderful posts and photos.
I didn’t do a post, but I should share about that! It’s easiest to do when you set the tree up next year. Put the bottom section in place and string lights around each branch until the entire section is covered and there is enough slack to plug it into a new strand for the next section. I’ll then put the next section on, and proceed. You could mark the connections to unplug with some tape, so it’s easier to see when taking the tree apart.
Thank you for answering, Marian. I know you are extremely busy, so it means a lot to me that you did. If you have the time to do a post about the process, with pictures and links, I know I’m not the only one who would appreciate it.
I hope your Christmas is peaceful and quiet, and I hope you wake to a blanket of snow (no matter how long it lasts). We had four beautiful winters (and Christmases) in Western Michigan where we had the most beautiful lake-effect snow. It’s magical.
I do like the hand-made dried orange slice garlands and remember when you made them. My eye went right to the cuckoo clock as my dad was in the Army in Germany and bought a cuckoo clock for my mom when they were in their early 20’s and had their house built in New York. Merry Christmas!
I love the cuckoo clock! It does work, but I have to keep the chains wrapped around the clock so the cats don’t play with them!
I like to mix warm and cool lighting on my tree. I think it tones both down and I love the silver and gold. Your tree is so pretty.
Oh! I love the idea of leaving the lights on the tree! I never bought a pre-lit tree, I like too many lights. Mine is a Balsam Hill as well. Is it hard to get the tree fluffed with the lights already on? Putting on the lights every year is such a chore!
No, fluffing is still the same with the lights on or off. I just really took my time to weave them in and out of each branch. It’s worth it so you can just unplug the strands at the sections and store them for next year.